For how long?

Eva Mireles (victim)
4th-grade teacher

We all know the drill. Regular broadcasting will be rudely interrupted with news flashes of yet another senseless killing in public. All cable news network cameramen will run to the site hoping to catch a glimpse of yet another gore porn over prime time. They will appear empathetic, trying to blank out the faces of victims and underaged but secretly wish they could exhibit violence in its full glory.

Then for the next few hours will be reels over reels of footage of witnesses and victims relating their dastardly experiences. The police chief will come forward with a press release that they have identified the perpetrator. The chief will be flabbergasted how the aggressor managed to possess his firepower. A revealing loophole in the system would manifest - he is underaged, that he purchased his assault weapon at a mall, that he has mental issues, that he bought it in another state, yadda yadda. Then his social media would expose his screwed up ideology and true intentions that went below the radar, whilst others get barred by FB or Youtube for politically incorrect phrases!

Experts will be whisked in to opine their two cents worth - that the USA has got to get its act together. Politicians will cry for the victims and plead, "for how long do we have to endure this?" The gun lobbyist will saunter in to proclaim that 'guns do not kill people, people do!'; without a gun, an angry or deranged would have to run all the way to his intended target and lay a punch or beat the pulp out of his victim. And the damage is far less brutal.

Over the following days, the incident site would be revisited to show wreaths and cute figurines left by mourners. The frequency of the mention of the incident would dwindle. Pretty soon, another national crisis would loom. The shooting incident would be forgotten until another shooting in another vicinity. It is then another state or county's headache to sort out.

Anyone with half a brain will know that gun kills, and it does that much more at ease with the least effort. Experiences in countries that outlawed gun usage have drastically reduced gun-related crimes. One does not need guns to live in modern times. Easy access to guns just makes it necessary to possess bigger and more powerful firearms, even overpowering what the law enforcement officers have at their disposal.

It made sense to make it a person's right to own firearms to guard his land during the Wild West when the white men were snatching lands from the retaliating Native Americans. In the 21st century, when policing and protecting the citizens is outsourced to the State, can the Second Amendment still be relevant?

The country that considers itself the policeman of the world is impotent when it comes to protecting its own people. The nation that is telling the world how economies should be managed is finding itself dealing with homelessness and decimated family units. Still, people call going to America and living the American way an American dream!

Some victims of the recent Texas shooting. Too young to die.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Money begets money!

Hell or High Water (2017)

It has got opposition against corporate American written all over it. This movie must have liberal democrats drooling all over. It is a simple neo-Western story like the one one sees in a pulp fiction. Two brothers go on a bank robbing spree and two Texas Rangers going after them. Doesn't sound original, does it? In fact, it could have been plucked from the many Westerns we have seen before. But, see beyond it. There are no horses and there is more than meets the eye.

In the modern world, being born poor is like hereditary disease passed from generation to generation. The poor is caught in a spiral, like a snake catching its own tail, a vicious cyclical self-defeating spiral. To come out of the rut, you need money which is sparse when you are poor. And to top it all, education, which the elites claim is the sure pass to unchain the shackles of poverty is no cheap feat. There appears to be a concerted effort to keep the poor poorer and the rich richer than they already are. Money begets money and destitution multiply helplessness. The bigger corporations, in cahoots with the powers that be who were elected to keep the general public's interest at heart, have standards that tighten the screws on the members of the lower rung of the society. They go on their work like business as usual. Come what may, come hell or high water, they will ensure their profits and share-owners' dividends do not dwindle, even by a dime!

This film tells a tale of two brothers who had just lost their old mother. The elder brother had just been released from prison. They had grown under an abusive father. The younger had himself gone through some rough patch. He had cared for his demandingly sick mother and pines for over his ex-wife and his two young sons. The family farm had seen better times. It had been neglected by him and is soon to be repossessed by the banks after some shady legal wranglings. To top it all, there could be petroleum in their land! So, the brothers came with a series of bank robberies from the same bank that is executing the foreclosure to pay them back and place a trust in the same bank for the younger brother's family!

Hot on their trail is an unlikely duo of Texas Rangers; a near to retirement racist-statement rantings Ranger and his Native-Mexican assistant who just had it with his boss. Even though the story is predictable, the movie remains memorable for its good acting, the unforgettable lines with heavy Southerner mannerism and figure of speech and the hopeless environment that it depicts - the real picture of inland America - in debt, empty, dirty and sleepy towns with no economic activities. The only viable business is eatery and banks! And the whole system, the long arms of the law and even the public is out to protect the big guys, the corporation.

Memorable lines...

• I've been poor my whole life, like a disease passing from generation to generation. But, not my boys, not anymore.
• He wouldn't know God if he crawled up his pant leg and bit him on the pecker. (referring to an evangelist)
• Blood always follows the money.
• Sometimes a blind pig finds a truffle. (one time lucky)
• Justice isn't a crime.
• Now that looks like a man who could foreclose on a house. (referring to a banker)